H. B. 3208
(By Delegates Trump, Michael, Mahan, Campbell
and Ashley)
[Introduced March 24, 2005; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §24-6-6b of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the wireless enhanced 911 fee;
and adjusting the formula by which the Public Service
Commission distributes wireless enhanced 911 fees to the
counties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §24-6-6b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. LOCAL EMERGENCY TELEPHONE SYSTEM.
§24-6-6b. Wireless enhanced 911 fee.
(a) Beginning on the first day of January, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-eight, all CMRS providers, as defined in section two
of this article, shall, on a monthly basis, collect from each of
their in-state two-way service subscribers a wireless enhanced 911
fee. No later than the first day of August, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, the Public Service Commission, shall, after
the receipt of comments and the consideration of evidence presented
at a hearing, issue an order which directs the CMRS providers
regarding all relevant details of wireless enhanced 911 fee
collection, including the determination of who is considered an
in-state two-way service subscriber and which shall specify how the
CMRS providers shall deal with fee collection shortfalls caused by
uncollectible accounts. The Public Service Commission shall
solicit the views of the wireless telecommunications utilities
prior to issuing the order.
(b) The wireless enhanced 911 fee is seventy-five cents three
dollars per month for each valid retail commercial mobile radio
service subscription, as that term is defined by the Public Service
Commission in its order issued under subsection (a) of this
section.
(c) Beginning in the year one thousand nine hundred
ninety-seven, and every two years thereafter, the Public Service
Commission shall conduct an audit of the wireless enhanced 911 fee
and shall recalculate the fee so that it is the weighted average
rounded to the nearest penny, as of the first day of March of the
respecification year, of all of the enhanced 911 fees imposed by
the counties which have adopted an enhanced 911 ordinance:
Provided, That the wireless enhanced 911 fee may never be increased
by more than twenty-five percent of its value at the beginning of the respecification year.
(d) The CMRS providers shall, after retaining a three percent
billing fee, send the wireless enhanced 911 fee moneys collected,
on a monthly basis, to the Public Service Commission. The Public
Service Commission shall, on a quarterly and approximately evenly
staggered basis, disburse the fee revenue in the following manner:
(1) Each county that does not have a 911 ordinance in effect
as of the effective date of this section or has enacted a 911
ordinance within the five years prior to the effective date of this
section, shall receive one percent of the fee revenues received by
the Public Service Commission and from the remainder of the
revenues, each county shall receive a pro rata portion one percent
of the fee revenues received by the Public Service Commission based
on irrespective of that county's percentage of the total number of
local exchange telephone access lines and line equivalents in
service in the state. From the remaining forty-five percent of the
fee revenues received by the Public Service Commission, each county
shall receive a pro rata portion of the fee revenues based on that
county's percentage of the total number of local exchange telephone
access lines and line equivalents in service in the state. The
Public Service Commission shall recalculate the county disbursement
percentages on a yearly basis, with the changes effective on the
first day of July, and using data as of the preceding first day of
March. The public utilities which normally provide local exchange telecommunications service by means of lines, wires, cables,
optical fibers or by other means extended to subscriber premises
shall supply the data to the Public Service Commission on a county
specific basis no later than the first day of June of each year;
(2) Counties which have an enhanced 911 ordinance in effect
shall receive their share of the wireless enhanced 911 fee revenue
for use in the same manner as the enhanced 911 fee revenues
received by those counties pursuant to their enhanced 911
ordinances;
(3) The Public Service Commission shall deposit the wireless
enhanced 911 fee revenue for each county which does not have an
enhanced 911 ordinance in effect into an escrow account which it
has established for that county. Any county with an escrow account
may, immediately upon adopting an enhanced 911 ordinance, receive
the moneys which have accumulated in the escrow account for use as
specified in subdivision (2), subsection (d) of this section:
Provided, That a county that adopts a 911 ordinance after the
effective date of this section or has adopted a 911 ordinance
within five years of the effective date of this section, shall
continue to receive one percent of the total 911 fee revenue for a
period of five years following the adoption of the ordinance. and
Thereafter, each county shall receive that county's portion one
percent of the remaining fee revenue, being disbursed to counties
on a pro rata basis plus that county's additional pro rata portion of the fee revenues then remaining, based on that county's
percentage of the total number of local exchange telephone access
lines and line equivalents in service in the state:
Provided,
however, That every five years from the year one thousand nine
hundred ninety-seven, all fee revenue residing in escrow accounts
shall be disbursed on the pro rata basis specified in subdivision
(1), subsection (d) of this section, except that data for counties
without enhanced 911 ordinances in effect shall be omitted from the
calculation and all escrow accounts shall begin again with a zero
balance.
(e) CMRS providers have the same rights and responsibilities
as other telephone service suppliers in dealing with the failure by
a subscriber of a CMRS provider to timely pay the wireless enhanced
911 fee.
(f) Notwithstanding the provisions of section one-a of this
article, for the purposes of this section, the term "county" means
one of the counties provided for in section one, article one,
chapter one of this code.
(g) From any funds distributed to a county pursuant to this
section, a total of three percent quarter shall be set aside in a
special fund to be used exclusively for the purchase of equipment
that will provide information regarding the x and y coordinates of
persons who call an emergency telephone system through a commercial
mobile radio service: Provided, That upon purchase of the necessary equipment, the special fund shall be dissolved and any
surplus shall be used for general operation of the emergency
telephone system as may otherwise be provided by law.
Note: The purpose of this bill is to adjust the formula by
which the Public Service Commission distributes wireless enhanced
911 fee revenues to the counties.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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